Speed Up Your Reading Ability

By Phil VillarrealFebruary 1, 2012

In the Information Age, the speed-reader is king. The faster you read, the more information you’ll be able to process and put to use. While skimming has its advantages, you always retain more information if you actually look at every word.

One technique calls for using your index finger or mouse pointer as a reference point. You can move the point down line by line, letting your eyes whip across the page then move down without accidentally rereading anything you’re past.

Other advice calls for looking at sets of words in chunks, and processing their collective meaning together, almost as one word. You can practice the method until it becomes second nature, shaving time off each sentence.

Blocking out background noise and distractions will also speed up your pace and allow you to concentrate and retain your info more effectively.

I can read pretty fast when I want to, but I find it to be tiring. I read a lot for pleasure and I find speed-reading and pleasure-reading don’t work well together for me. Newspapers, webpages, textbooks — those I can rip through if I’m pressed for time, but a novel? I want to slow down and enjoy those.

From what I’ve read, that slows you down. Your mind will slow your reading down to whatever speed you are reciting it in your head, which usually isn’t much faster than you can talk. If you stop reciting it to yourself in your head, you can become much faster.

I do the same thing when reading novels, except I purposefully hear it in my mind and act it out in different voices. I see people and environments like a little movie in my head. And yes, it takes forever, about an hour to read 30 pages.

The finger-waving thing is complete crap. Your eye can move a lot faster than you can move your finger back-and-forth across a page. This is doubly true for computer screens… use your mouse to follow along as you read? Seriously? That takes an awful lot of tedious and tiring fine motor control.

The best way to learn how to read quickly is to read a lot. You’ll soon break any habits of sounding out words, and your mind will “chunk” without you even thinking about it.

I took an experimental speed reading program in high school many years ago.
It worked and it stuck. A projector system was used that started by flashing numbers, and becoming faster and more complex until it was showing paragraphs. About 1/2 the class never got it, but those that did, really GOT it.

The real issue for most people is they sub-vocalize as they read which means you can never read faster than you can talk. I do this when reading for pleasure, but NOT when it’s work or required reading.
Once you learn to stop sub-vocalizing it becomes much easier.

I had to take a reading test some years ago, a long time after high school, my comprehension was around 96% and speed was 600WPM, slow because I knew I would have to answer questions to measure comprehension. Rated at grade 16+ (highest level)